Glenn Maxwell's absence, Mitchell Marsh wasn't ideal, and clubs ought to have been able to field a roster with more than 15 players: Pat Cummins

 Glenn Maxwell's absence, Mitchell Marsh wasn't ideal, and clubs ought to have been able to field a roster with more than 15 players: Pat Cummins

While Marsh has gone home for personal reasons, Glenn Maxwell had an unusual injury during a round of golf, and there is no indication of when they will be back in play.

Stars Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh will not be available for Australia's match against England. Captain Pat Cummins said on Friday that, given the length of the World Cup, the nations should have been permitted to have more players than only 15 in the roster.

While Marsh has gone home for personal reasons, Maxwell had an unusual injury during a round of golf, and there is no indication of when they will be back in play.

Indeed, in all honesty. The event lasts for two months. It is not a situation you would want to be in, like New Zealand. Despite a few injuries, they have been fortunate enough to keep Kane (Williamson) in the team. However, I believe it would be detrimental to cricket and the World Cup if you were to abruptly rule him out.

During his pre-game news conference, Cummins said, "I always think of as many competitors as you need, you should be able to pick with. It's uncommon that you can poach players who hail from different countries."

In light of this, Cummins said that Maxwell and Marsh's absence was not ideal for the Australian team's attempt to advance to the semifinals.

It's not perfect, yes. At various points in time, both have been the tournament's top players. We were aware at the outset of the competition that a full team of fifteen would be required.

"Due to injuries or random selection, I'm not even sure we've played the same 11 games back-to-back. However, we were aware that over a two-month competition, adjustments would need to be made," added Cummins.

But Cummins thought Maxwell would get onto the field before Marsh.

"Hopefully, Maxi is for the match against Afghanistan, so he won't be playing this one. He did, however, workout hard yesterday and is going day by day. We'll have to wait and see, Mitch, but he'll return for sure.

"I don't think it'll be a super great trip back home to Perth but the main thing is graham's back home and we'll give him as much privacy and time as he needs," he said.

The 30-year-old pacer also wished that his team would not encounter any more obstacles in their pursuit to qualifying for the tournament's quarterfinals.

"Fortunately, we still have three games left to play before the semifinals. We have to go to the semifinals, but ideally this is the last little glitch in which we may choose from a smaller team; once we get closer, we'll have a complete roster," he said.

The reigning champions England, who presently sit bottom of the table with only two points from six games, also caught Cummins off guard. They have a number of elite players and have done rather well in these competitions in recent years.

"A little bit surprised when it comes of what's gone wrong, but these kinds of tournaments are pretty fickle, occasionally the best-looking squads just don't start off well afterwards and find it hard to kind of gain ground," he said.

15 SQUAD SIZE IS IDEAL: PHILIPS, NZ

Cricketer Glenn Philips of New Zealand said that the number was "perfect," in contrast to Australia's captain Cummins' opinion that, given the length of the World Cup, countries ought to have been able to choose more players rather than only 15.

"No, I believe a team of fifteen is ideal. If it becomes necessary at any point, we can fly someone in from anywhere in the globe," Philips said.

"But you've got 15 players in an organization for a reason and if everyone goes down, you try and cover your bases and then definitely with rules and regulations being able to get somebody in if someone has an injury concern is considered acceptable it's the format is good as it is," he said.